


Golden Retriever

by thenthekneehits



Series: Tiny Tumblr Drabbles [1]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Angst, M/M, Pining, Pining Rhett, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 01:58:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4810517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenthekneehits/pseuds/thenthekneehits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a prompt I received for <a href="http://thenthekneehits.tumblr.com/post/120284591011/send-me-a-pairing-and-a-line-of-dialogue-and-ill">this post</a>:</p>
<p>
  <em>“What happened doesn’t change anything.” Link to Rhett ;)</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Golden Retriever

After Link ended the call, plans began to form in Rhett’s mind. Despite his friend’s distress, he was feeling a surge of…excitement. Link needed a shoulder, Link needed someone to take care of him, and there was no one but Rhett left to do that now. Rhett was number one.

Would Link move to stay with Rhett for a while? Rhett could cook for him — he was so useless at cooking for himself — Rhett could watch movies with him at night and hold him when he began to cry, Rhett could finally sing him all the love songs he’d wanted to write about him, make him laugh past his tears, Rhett could tell him he can crawl into the better bed, together with Rhett…to make sure he slept…

His daydream didn’t last long — the memory of the tone of his friend’s voice made it hard to imagine that Rhett could make him happy. Maybe this was a step back, rather than forward. He’d waited so long for the unlikely chance that Link’s wife would ever leave the picture, he had never thought of how hard it might be to fix a person. Maybe all Link would ever do is cry; or even worse, give Rhett nothing but sad smiles and cry alone, somewhere away from Rhett, in his own apartment, and he wouldn’t let Rhett near because he could _smell_ the disgusting stink of Rhett’s emotions from a mile away, and it’d make everything worse for him, knowing even his best friend couldn’t hold back his contemptible desires.

But at least Rhett was _faithful_. Never had there been anyone other than Link for him. He dated women for short periods of time and had one night stands with slender, dark haired men, but never did he love anyone else, never would he give a single thought or look for anyone else if he had Link.

Thoughts of how he would treat Link, of how Link would never feel neglected or anything short of gorgeous if he was with Rhett, they made Rhett hate Christy. He’d never hated her in the past, despite the fact that she marked the end of Rhett’s methods of consoling Link post-breakup. She made Link happy, so Rhett was happy. That was over now. She had been with another man and she could never have Link again.

Rhett wanted to huddle Link against him right now. Tell him that divorces were common nowadays, Link was still so young, so good-looking, his body still smooth, he would find _someone_ who loved him so much more, would love him until the few worrisome flecks of grey in his stubble were surrounded by their kin.

Link came over. Rhett felt like a bumblebee, hovering all over the living room until he sat next to Link on the couch. He wanted to grab onto his friend, squeeze him now that he was new, like a shiny toy, but ever since arriving Link had emitted an aura saying _don’t come near me_. Rhett hadn’t expected that. Link always wanted a hug when he was feeling down.

“Wanna watch a movie?” Rhett suggested, since he had no clue what else to do — and it had been a part of his plan, too.

“I don’t feel like watching anything useless.”

“You insulting my taste in movies?”

Link just stayed quiet and stared at the floor. He seemed like he wanted to be alone rather than with Rhett, and Rhett’s place happened to be the only place he could go to to get away from his family.

Rhett had wanted Link to need him.

“I’ll set up your bed,” he said, because there was no chance he could get Link into his.

In the morning Link seemed to feel better. He was up before Rhett, brewing coffee in the kitchen like he should, hair mussed, armpits musky with scent from a missed shower, and Rhett could see it again, could see himself hugging Link tightly every morning and smelling him before his shower, and Link would be so happy.

If he felt better this quickly — and of course he did, Link was so strong, stronger than he felt — Rhett could ask him to move in today. Just temporarily at first, but it’d drag on until Link had migrated into his roommate’s bed.

Link turned to look at Rhett, his face determined now, not soft and weak and in need of protection. Rhett’s throat went cold.

“I thought things through. What happened doesn’t change anything. The kids matter the most to me. I forgive her. I think I’ll be able to forget eventually, too,” he said with a soft smile.

Rhett was the faithful Golden Retriever, a man’s best friend.

**Author's Note:**

> [the post on tumblr](http://thenthekneehits.tumblr.com/post/120290018041/what-happened-doesnt-change-anything-link-to)


End file.
